The Fixer by Tara Crescent

Author:Tara Crescent [Crescent, Tara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

She’s in.

Thank you.

No thanks are necessary; I didn’t do anything. She was already on the shortlist.

But, of course, I’ll still owe him a favor. Deal with the spider, get trapped in his web. I regret nothing.

When are they going to tell her?

She should be getting an email any minute now.

Just as he says that Rosa’s phone buzzes. She makes a face and reaches for it. “It could be Gisele,” she says. “I better check.” She picks it up, then her face breaks out into a smile. “I got an email from the Milan Fashion Week committee,” she says happily. “I’m in.”

“That’s fantastic. Want another drink to celebrate?”

She looks up at the sky. Sometime in the last ten minutes, ominous-looking rainclouds have rolled in. “I don’t think we have time,” she says as a bolt of lightning flashes across the sky. “In fact, I think we better run.”

IT’S STILL RAINING when we pull up at the dock. “Let’s make a run for it,” I suggest as I help her out of the boat. “We only have a couple of blocks to go.”

“I can’t,” Rosa replies regretfully. “Wrong shoes. I’ll slip on the cobblestones and break my neck. You go ahead, though. There’s no need for both of us to get soaked.”

I roll my eyes and scoop her up into my arms. She squeals in surprise. “Leo,” she laughs. “Put me down. This is ridiculous.”

“Not as ridiculous as your shoes.”

“I’ll have you know that my sandals are works of art,” she says loftily. “And if you wanted me to wear sensible shoes, orsacchiotto mio, you should have warned me we were going to the beach.”

“Touché.”

We’re both drenched and laughing by the time we get home. I unlock the front door, but when I set her down inside, her laughter dies away. “I think I’ll make an early night of it,” she says, not meeting my eyes. “I’m going to take a hot shower and head to bed.”

“You haven’t eaten.”

“I’m not hungry.” She kisses my cheek. “Good night, Leo.”

I make myself a sandwich and eat it in front of the TV. A movie about a jewelry heist looks interesting, but once it starts playing, I can’t focus. With Rosa not here, the silence feels oppressive. I stare balefully at the walls of my father’s cavernous palazzo and brood. I don’t want her taking another lover in three years. Rosa’s going to be my wife. Mine. And I don’t share. I don’t want a mistress either, damn it. I just want Rosa.

It takes me a very long time to fall asleep.

A SCREAM SPLITS THE AIR. I jerk awake, my heart pounding. Bad dream? Then Rosa shrieks again, and fear twists my insides. I jump out of bed, grab my gun, and run full speed toward her bedroom, skidding to a halt as I throw open her door.

Then I blink.

Rosa’s standing next to her bed, her cream nightgown soaking wet. Water has turned the fabric transparent, and I can see every curve of her body. The deep brown of her nipples, the dark triangle between her legs, everything.

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